Together
by gallowsCallibrator
Summary: Remus and Tonks' final moments together during the Battle of Hogwarts.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

He was running, running as fast as his feet could carry him. Past piles of debris and wreckage of the magnificent castle that used to be. The long corridor stretched out in front of him dauntingly as the tall man stopped to catch his breath. One strong scarred hand reached up to brush the hair out of his face that had previously been plastered down with sweat. Thoughts raced through his mind like speeding bullets, leaving as quickly as they had come.

_I must find her; bring her back. She wasn't supposed to leave the safe house! How could she lie to me? Oh Merlin, I hope she's okay. If anything ever happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself._

With a final deep breath, Remus Lupin went speeding down the abandoned halls of Hogwarts once again, searching for his lost love. In the distance, there were the cries of a raging battle, along with the sobs of those still living for the deceased. Remus paid none of that any heed, though. The only thing he could concentrate on was searching for the woman he had been so foolish as to leave alone. His grey eyes darted around in a flurry, searching for some sign that she was here, looking for just a sliver of hope to cling on to.

Suddenly, the corridor he was in felt extremely uncomfortable, like the walls were closing in on him. His shirt felt rough and tight, his breaths coming out in long, ragged gasps. He hunched over, his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. A quick glance at the sky made him realize that it was late, maybe around midnight. Time was slowly ticking away. Any moment could be when his wife could be dying. With a newfound resolve, he ran off again, determined to keep his love safe if it was the last thing he did.

As he neared the site of the battle against the Death Eaters, the shouts and screams grew louder. None of that mattered, though. Right now, the only thing that was of any importance was to find her and keep her safe.

Through the maze of fallen stone pillars he ran, desperate to find her. Remus rounded a corner and promptly smashed into someone. He collapsed to the ground, head throbbing where the two bodies collided.

_Who could be so stupid as to stand right next to a corner,___he wondered to himself. As he stood, brushing the dust from his ragged trousers that he caught a glimpse of bubblegum pink hair. Could it really be her? Remus peered at the woman who he had run into, and beamed at the sight of her intense, purple eyes and strong jaw.

"Tonks?" His voice came out in a whisper as he kneeled down next to the woman.

"Hello, Lupin. And what brings you here this lovely evening?" asked Tonks, a tiny smile adorning her lips and a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, nothing much. Just a war and all, you know." said Remus with a straight face, holding his hand out for his wife to take.

Tonks reached out her thin hand to take his big one, and the man pulled her up to feet. Suddenly, a dark cloud passed over the eyes of the raggedy man. "Didn't I tell you to stay with your mother and Teddy? You need to go home straight away, it's dangerous out here."

"And that's exactly why I came." said Tonks, shaking her pink bob out of her face, still holding her husband's hand. Remus gave her a hurt look, one that made her heart sink a little bit. "Listen. I can't stand the idea of you out here fighting You-Know-Who while I'm at home playing housewife. I need to be by your side or I'll go insane. Now come on, we have some Death Eaters to kill." The spunky woman turned around and marched to the en of the corridor, glancing over her shoulder like she wanted Remus to follow.

He looked after her with a sense of frustration, but also admiration that someone could be so strong, so willing to put themselves in danger to help others. That's one of the many reasons that Remus loved her so much, a reason that he married her. With a sigh, he walked after the petite woman and they went off down the forgotten corridors of Hogwarts. The two of them walked around a bit of the castle, trying to connect the ruins that lay in front of them to the beautiful castle that both of them had spent many years of their life at. Then, a cry broke through the dusty silence, piercing the night like a sword.

"Remus, who do you think that was?" asked Tonks, a slight tremor shaking her voice.

"I don't know," Remus replied, glancing around nervously, "But we should go now. It's not safe for you here. Go back to Andromeda and Teddy."

"Like I said before, I'm not going to leave while all the men are here fighting our battles. I'm going to see who it was that screamed," snapped Tonks, growing agitated.

"No, not alone." said Remus, reaching out for his wife who had begun to walk towards the source of the noise.

"Yeah, I can handle myself. I'll be back in ten minutes, I promise." With a quick kiss on the cheek, the pink-haired woman jogged down the corridor ad turned left, disappearing into the skeleton of Hogwarts.

Remus stood there, looking after where his wife had disappeared. He knew that there was no point in going after her: once she made up her mind, there was no use trying to change her. After a few minutes had passed, Remus began to grow restless, snapping up at every creak of the infrastructure, every footstep of mice sliding across the marble floors. When he finally decided that ten minutes was up and he was going to see where she went to, another scream broke the silence.

There was something different about this shriek, though. It was so full of pain, anguish, and fear, that it shot arrows through the heart of anyone that could hear it. And it sounded familiar.

Remus' eyes widened as he realized who had made that horrible noise. He was running towards the source of the sound before he realized what he was doing. His hands blindly swung out in front of him, pushing aside anything that got in the way of him reaching his goal. Reaching his Tonks.

As he reared around a corner, the most awful sight beheld him. Tonks was laying on the floor, knocked unconscious with a small drop of blood sliding from her temple down her cheek. Remus' eyes shot up to meet those of another woman. One that was the origin of Tonks' bloody past. This woman had dead, sunken eyes of charcoal and a knot of messy black hair atop her head. Her simple black dress draped around her strong frame, the moonlight illuminating her gaunt features. This was the Dark Lord's most faithful, Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Aw, how sweet. Little Remus has come to save his blood-traitor wife." Bellatrix took a step forward, casually pointing her walnut wand at the middle of Remus' forehead.

"What do you want with us?" asked Remus, his eyes darting around nervously. He was clenching his fists so tightly that his nails dug into the flesh of his hand, leaving bloody-red crescent moons in his palm.

"Oh, I think we both know the answer to that." the dark woman replied, stepping in between Tonks and Remus, blocking his view of her.

Remus' eyes darted from side to side, and just then noticed the four other Death Eaters in the background, grey masks covering their faces and long black cloaks draped around their shoulders.

"Carrow, Dolohov: kill him." Bellatrix didn't even glance back as she stepped aside for two large, strong men lumbering forward, wands at the ready. Remus slipped his wand out of his robes quickly, pointing it at the first of the two men.

"You're not going to try to fight them, are you?" mocked Bellatrix, standing on the sidelines with a bemused expression upon her face.

"So what if I am?" Remus spat back, not taking his eyes off of the two male Death Eaters.

"Well, I don't think that's a very good idea." Bellatrix pouted, lifting up one hand and examining her nails, pretending to be bored. Of course she wasn't, though. The thrill of murder always gave her a rush. That was a fact that he knew all to well.

Remus glanced around, desperate for a way to get to his wife lying unmoving in the corner. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted past the wall f Death Eaters to Tonks' fragile body. He shot to his knees and lay her head on his lap, her soft breaths coming out in staggered, tiny breaths.

"Come on, stay with me. You're stronger than they are. Don't go." he whispered, searching for any signs that would signify her revival from unconsciousness.

The two men were growing closer. He raised his wand up at them and he could see his hand trembling in the air. Even with their faces masked, Remus could tell that the two Death Eaters were amused at his will to fight them. Not for himself, but for his wife. For his son Teddy back at home with Andromeda. For Dumbledore who died at the merciless hand of a traitor, and for Harry. The Chosen one, the martyr that stood for all good and light in this black abyss that the world had transformed into. He was going to fight for them.

With a trembling breath, Remus stood to his feet and looked straight at Carrow. He raised his wand to their foreheads and in a calm, reasonable tone he said, "Rictusempra." The Death Eater immediately collapsed onto the floor in a fit of spasms, his arms and legs twitching uncontrollably. The other one at once jumped to attention and before he could lift his wand, Remus cast the spell "Stupefy" on him. Bellatrix just stood in the background, watching the whole event play out with a bemused smile upon her face.

"Good job, Remus," she said contemptuously, "You managed to defeat a few boneheaded minions the Dark Lord told me to take along for 'protection'. You must be so proud," She sneered at Remus, showing her yellowing and grotesque teeth.

From the corner that Tonks lay in, a small moan came. Remus' eyes flickered over to her, a detail that did not go unnoticed by Bellatrix. "Oh I see your true love has awoken? Then by all means, go over and say hello. I wouldn't want to disturb your relationship," She batted her eyelashes innocently, the faint trace of a smirk playing upon her lips.

Remus always knew that Bellatrix liked to play with her food before she ate it, but the urge to make sure his wife was okay was just overwhelming. All while keeping his eyes on Bellatrix, Remus slowly inched over to where Tonks was. He got down on his knees and asked her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, "but what…" Tonks trailed off as her eyes came to rest on the snakelike woman on the other side of the room. "What the hell? Remus, tell me what happened." she demanded, her eyes unmoving from Bellatrix.

"Uh, well, there's a little… There's a situation here." he replied.

"I can see that for myself," she snapped, "but how did that situation come about?' Tonks prodded.

"Oh, just cut to the chase already!" Bellatrix interjected, "Your little Remus here knocked out a couple of Death Eaters and now he's probably going to fight me to keep you safe from big, bad Bellatrix. You should be honored that a pureblood would go to such trouble to protect a filthy little mudblood like yourself." Bellatrix's smile was a sickly sweet one, her thin lips curled around her jagged teeth.

"You…" Remus' face contorted with a rage like no other as he stood up and raised his wand at the woman. "She's not a mudblood. She's not a psychopathic murder that betrayed her entire kind to follow an insane man, unlike you."

"Oh, you know me so well, don't you?" Bellatrix cajoled. "It's a shame that you'll have to die. Now, who shall I kill first? Oh, I know! I'll pick off the blood traitor niece. Then maybe I'll get to see the werewolf cry over her dead body. That'd be fun…" she trailed off, a smile dancing on her lips. Then, a moment later, she raised her wand to Tonks' forehead. Before anyone could move, Bellatrix whispered, "Crucio". A jet of blue light shot from the tip of her wand. Tonks sat there for a split second, the shock washing over her face. Then, a sound so inhuman that it could've been a monster erupted from what seemed like everywhere. The screams of anguish echoed against the walls, down the surrounding corridors. An expression of pure agony was etched on Tonks' face, unable to change. Her bright pink hair was flung away from her face so all her features were visible.

Remus stood there for a second, absorbing what was happening, before he flung himself at Bellatrix. The light faltered and stuttered before ceasing completely, and the room was an eerie silence. Tonks was sitting, quietly sobbing, in the corner and Bellatrix had been flung across the room by Remus' strength. He jumped to his feet and ran over to where his love was, kneeling down next to her and rubbing her back. "It's okay, it'll be alright," he promised, trying to get her to calm down.

She looked up at him, tear tracks making their way down her face. "W-we both know that we won't… We won't get out of here. Alive." her voice caught in her throat, her tone groggy and rough. "So I wanted to say… I love you. But you know that. Take care of Teddy. But I love you so much."

"I love you too. Whatever comes next, we'll face it. Together." Remus whispered into his wife's ear.

And Bellatrix stood up from across the room and walked towards them, and Remus and Tonks just clung to each other like there was no tomorrow. Bellatrix stood there, curiously, almost as if she had never seen true love before. But, as it would inevitably happen, she raised her wand to them and murmured "Avada kedavera."

Green light shot from the tip of her wand and absorbed the two people, making them look as if they themselves were glowing. And then, as quickly as it had happened, it was over. The light faded and the two forms collapsed onto each other, slumped and lifeless. Their lives, like all things, had finally come to an end.

Bellatrix, almost like a child faced with a strange new toy, cautiously walked towards them, making sure that they really were gone. As soon as she had confirmed that, a huge grin broke out across her face. Another kill in the bag, another victory for the predator of night. She slid her wand into the folds of her dress and slowly walked out of the room, leaving the ramshackle door practically falling off its hinges behind her. She had succeeded in her small task set by her Dark Lord, so all was well for now. With a final sniff and smirk, she disappeared into the inky blackness that was night.


End file.
